Saturday, October 11, 2014

Non-quantifiable risks - underpriced?

It seems as though some of the biggest global macro risks are unquantifiable. This means that they are likely to be mis-priced. I would say that pricing will usually be too low because the chance of these events are under-estimated even if we can identify them and the extent of the impact is too low even when they are upon us. Local risks that can carry-over to the global environment are also likely to be under-estimated.

This is just a small list of what may be under-priced.

1. Geopolitical risks have been priced in the short run but still have not resolved
-ISIS threat
-Iran nuclear issue
-Israel  - Gaza
-Ukraine - Russia
-East Asia - South Sea tensions
2. Pandemic risks - Ebola, two weeks ago was unlikely to come to the US
-Ebola
3. Separatist movements. We survived Scotland but this is just the beginning of a growing global issue.
-Scotland 
4. Climate change 
-Ongoing issues with weather pattern changes.
-Drought 
5. Cyber threats
-State driven 
-Criminal driven

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